xxxv i 



Thirtieth Annual Report 



(d) SHELL-FISH. 



The total value of shell-fish landed in Scotland in the year 1911 

 was £67,355, or £2405 less than in the preceding year. The year's 

 operations were, in fact, the least lucrative since 1895, when the value 

 only reached £66,433. The falling off was not, however, due to any 

 general failure, being attributable mainly to lobsters — a crustacean 

 the catch of which fluctuates in a marked degree. Toward the total 

 value the East Coast contributed 39 per cent., Orkney and Shetland 

 8 per cent., and the West Coast 53 per cent., as compared with 35 per 

 cent., 10 per cent., and 55 per cent, respectively in 1910, the East 

 Coast, which advanced from £24,673 to £26,487, having improved its 

 position at the expense of the other sections of the coast. 



Lobsters. 



Of these, the most valuable of shell-fish used as food, 641,968 were 

 landed, or 55,689 less than in 1910, the value showing a corresponding 

 decline from £34,795 to £32,101. The East Coast improved upon 

 last year's catch, and the decrease was due to a general decline on 

 the other sections of the coast, being most marked in Barra, Orkney, 

 and Lochbroom districts. 



Crabs. 



Crab-fishermen were more successful than in 1910, the catch of 23,573 

 hundreds representing an advance upon the preceding year's figures of 

 7 per cent., while the value, which amounted to £14,650, was greater 

 to the extent of 6 per cent. The bulk of the increase occurred on the 

 East Coast, although a great improvement also took place in Ballantrae 

 district. 



Oysters. 



The oyster crop of 1911 was a most productive one, the output 

 amounting to 11,540 hundreds, valued at £4075, these figures being 

 respectively 32 per cent, and 17 per cent, in advance of those of 1910. 

 For this improvement the Loch Kyan beds, from which nearly 

 98 per cent, of the total was taken, was responsible. The catch on 

 other parts of the coast is insignificant, and in Orkney, where 67 

 hundreds were obtained in 1910, none was landed during the year 

 under review. 



Mussels. 



With the improvement in small-line fishing on various parts of the 

 coast, mussel gathering received a fillip, which resulted in 4400 cwts. 

 more being gathered, and £590 more being realised, than in the pre- 

 ceding year. The actual figures for 1911 were 103,217 cwts. and 

 £5066. The increase was entirely on the East Coast, the output from 

 the Clyde beds having again declined, and was most marked in Find- 

 horn discrict, where the yield has grown from 480 cwts. in 1909 to 

 9620 cwts in 1911. 



